GoBetween
by Animom
Summary: Someday he'll change enough to be different and exciting to her as well - and until then he'll accept being a go-between, because at least then he'll be in the middle. ** YuGiOh FanFiction Contest Season 8 round 1, Spiritshipping (Yami no Yugi/Anzu/Yugi).


Go BetweenYu-Gi-Oh is the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi and Konami, and is being used in this fanfiction for fan purposes only. No infringement or disrespect is intended by this fanfiction.

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**Go-Between**  
_by Animom_

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"Is it weird?" she asks. They've at their usual spot, on the east side of the pond with the swans. The sun-warmed bench is far enough from the path to be private.

"Weird?" Yuugi stalls. "Kinda. Not really. I don't know."

"Of course it's weird," she says. "And confusing, because, well, he looks like you, so I always expect him to be as comfortable with me as you are."

"It's okay, really. I understand." What he understands even better is that, even though his other self has a familiar form that she can trust, he is different, self-assured and exotic, and that is what she finds exciting.

"And when I'm around him," she says, and Yuugi realizes that she isn't really talking to him as much as she is trying to sort it out for herself, "I don't know what to do. With you, I know what you like, what makes you laugh. With him …" She crosses her arms and huddles as if she's cold, and he knows this means she's bordering on being upset. And he knows how much she hates to cry.

He hates to see her cry.

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"This is important to you." It's not a question.

"Well, she's my best friend. And it would really mean a lot to her."

A ghostly nod. "Her happiness is important to you." This isn't a question either, just an acknowledgment of what they both know. "For your sake, I will do it. Tell me about her."

"She's smart, and brave, and she wants to be a dancer," he says, trying to think of things that might be potential topics of conversation between a modern girl and an ancient pharaoh. "She lied about her age so that she could get a part-time job to raise money to go to America. She won't mind if you talk about cards, she plays sometimes." He adds with a grin, "She used to beat Jounouchi all the time."

He can feel his other self smiling.

He doesn't see the point of adding that she uses a shampoo that makes her hair smell like strawberries and peaches, or that, a few years ago, the first time he looked at her blouse and suddenly realized that underneath the fabric were breasts with nipples, he was worried that thoughts like that would ruin their friendship – but so far they haven't, and he wants to keep it that way as long as possible.

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He'll make sure to withdraw completely, to give them privacy, and won't ask either of them how it went, what happened. This is as much for his own sake as theirs: the faint swirls of envy and jealousy that stab from time to time don't need to get any stronger.

But he is determined that someday he'll have changed enough to be different and new to her as well – and until then he'll take what he can get, because at least a go-between is always in the middle.

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_~ the end ~_

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Written for the Yugioh Fanfiction Challenge, Season 8, Round 1, Spiritshipping - Yami no Yugi x Anzu Mazaki x Yuugi Mutou.

Some time ago I realized that just about all of the stories I've written involve either Kaiba, Jounouchi or Pegasus. Now, I do realize that like many writers, I tend to "specialize," but I decided that before I wrap up my quill for good I ought to expand my character palette a bit, push to develop characterizations of the rest of the cast. ~ All of this is a preamble to giving special thanks to **Silver**** Dragon Golden Dragon**, whose insightful character studies (especially of Anzu and Yami Yugi) on her Yukai no Yugi blog (http: /yukai-no-yugi. Blogspot. Com/ ) helped me expand my horizons to the point that I decided to go completely nuts and sign up for the YGO forum's Fanfic Challenge, the harder rounds of which makes most crack pairings look vanilla.

(05) first posted 4 Sept 2010


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